Cristiano Ronaldo at Marca (I)

Cristiano Ronaldo graces the cover of Marca today, in what is billed as his first interview of the season. It’s also the first part of a three-part series, with a “surprise” in Thursday’s edition. I liked the interview for Cristiano’s answers, in which he showed himself to be a mature, team-oriented and focused player, and all I can say is, thank God he is ours! Cristiano also talked a bit about his son (!!!), which I’ll cover in another post.

Q: After the tie with Almería, it appears that it’s going to be even more difficult to surpass Barcelona this season. There’s still half a season left, but Barcelona were the winter champions, and broke several records.

A: It’s always difficult to surpass a rival like Barcelona. It will only be easy if we win all the games in the second half. But we have to think positively, because in spite of all that, we’re still alive in all three competitions. It’s true that Barcelona is in first place now, but they’re not that far away. I really believe that by winning all our games, the Liga will be ours.

Q: Will the game against Barça in the Bernabéu be decisive?

A: No, there’s still a lot to do before that. But it will be a great battle, without a doubt. But first we have to win all the games until then, which won’t be easy.

Q: What did you think of Iturralde’s performance in the 5-0 in the Camp Nou?

A: It’s a game that’s already been forgotten; I don’t like to look back. It was a bad day not only for one or two of us, but for eight or nine. On a team like ours, that can’t happen, but we have to continue moving forward and learning from these situations. Barça played very well. When we play against them at home, we have to think that things will be different.

Q: Did Valdés commit a penalty against you?

A: The replays don’t lie. That changed the game, but it’s in the past and I already said there’s no point in rehashing the past.

Q: A person as ambitious as you must be really wanting to return to the Camp Nou with a great performance.

A: I’m not a spiteful person that holds grudges. It will be an important game. I don’t know if it will be decisive, but I don’t see it as an opportunity for revenge.

Q: You have 23 goals in 19 games. Will you be able to keep up this incredible pace of 1.21 goals per game?

A: I don’t know, it depends on a lot of things. I’m motivated. Whatever happens, I’m going to do my best and if I get the Pichichi, great.

Q: What do you think when you are described as a “footballer from another epoch” and compared with Real Madrid legends such as Di Stéfano or Puskas?

A: It’s a tremendous honor to be compared with players who are legends. But it’s still too early, since I have a lot left to learn and improve, and a lot to do in this club. But it’s a privilege, and it gives me extra motivation to continue working and wanting to become better each day.

Q: You’re about to turn 26 and it’s obvious that you take good care of yourself. How many Ballon d’Or trophies will you win? Mourinho said four or five…

A: I like winning Champions Leagues and Ligas, not Ballon d’Or trophies. If I win another, or two or three, I would be happy, but my priority is to win titles with Real Madrid.

Q: Which player has been an example for you?

A: It’s impossible to just name one; there are a lot. I always see the great players as good examples for children. I had a lot of idols when I started, and I always fixated on them: Rui Costa, Figo, Zidane, Ronaldo… I always wanted to be like them. Thanks to God, I’m creating my own space, my own history, in Manchester, with Portugal and here in Madrid, and I hope to contribute to the history of this club.

Q: Imagine that you are Florentino Pérez, and you can sign a forward for next season without having to worry about the cost. Who would you bring out of Llorente, Kun and Torres?

A: It’s very difficult, since it depends on the money, the contract, etc. Without having to worry about money… Llorente is a great player, Mourinho likes him and he has the characteristics that we’re looking for. Kun is a very fast player that can destabilize anyone, and Torres is very good as well. I don’t know.

Q: Last week, you made a very ugly tackle against Ujfaluši. Do you think it was a bit too much?

A: I was going for the ball, but I tackled him instead. How many tackles do I receive over the course of a game? Seven, eight? So when I make one, why is it a big deal? It’s not fair, is it? I do get angry sometimes, that’s true, but on what basis do others have of accusing me of tackling others when I receive a ton myself during games?

Q: Do you feel that it’s unfair when you tackle someone and it becomes a huge issue?

A: Yes. The rivals pressure the referees, I don’t know why. I ask myself why this happens, because I don’t understand it. Here in Spain, I receive a lot of whistles when I’m on the field. My friends tell me, “Cristiano, off the field, they love you, they ask you for photos and autographs, but then on the field they want to kill you!” I don’t understand it.

Q: It must be difficult then to stay calm.

A: Yes, sometimes it’s very, very difficult. But you have to be mentally prepared. Top players should also be “top” on the mental level.

Like this:

Related

“I’m not a spiteful person that holds grudges.”
– Such a good hearted person!!

“I like winning Champions Leagues and Ligas, not Ballon d’Or trophies.”
– Because what matters is teamwork, not just an individual skills. Nicely said.

“How many tackles do I receive over the course of a game? Seven, eight? So when I make one, why is it a big deal? It’s not fair, is it?”
– Yes!! It’s not fair at all! The football world do have double standards on Real Madrid and its players.

It amazes me how much Cristiano has seemingly matured in the past 6 months or so. Even from the WC to now I can see a difference. I love the ‘new and improved’ Cristiano! (Not that I didn’t like him before) I’m so glad he’s part of Real Madrid.

He certainly seems to have come a long way from his younger days. It would be nice to have the whole selfish thing put to rest. You see commenters on other blogs talk about him being so selfish, and I want to ask them if they have watched a single La Liga match this season? He has his moments when he holds the ball too long and gets triple teamed and loses it, but that’s going to happen to him anyway. He gets hard tackled all the time without so much as a tweet from the whistle. He just knows, now, that he has to take it all in stride to win back the refs. Incidently, we all saw how he treated Uj after that tackle. There isn’t another player in any league who would go so far to assure that a player was ok. He has to if he is going to stop all of the negative chatter.

Well even after this interview there’s still people that still think his selfish. But it is Cristiano Ronaldo. I don’t think people will start seeing him in a different way. It doesn’t help that he join Real Madrid cause we know that we have double standards. And yeah I too was suprised when I saw him with Uj afterward. I hope he keeps this new attitude though.

Nice interview! I admit, I had my doubts about Crispy, when he was in manchester even, I was very sceptic towards him. It all totally changed in recent years. I adore him now. When I was at the RM match in August (friendly, but still), he was the one person that impressed me the most. Man, how this guy runs and moves with the ball! amazing!

and I agree that it seems that he matured. I feel like that with few other players now (like Serhio, when he’s not slapping Puyol). I think it’s the natural maturing process of, well, the guys, in that age. All in all, most of them are pretty young and because of their popularity I often forget how old they are and how my own friends behaved in that age and I forget that the “becoming mature” is still ahead of some players ;-) (okay, I am not sooo much older than Crispy, but still);-))

anyway, thanks for a lovely (as always!) translation! let’s wait and see what the “surprise” on Thursday will be. Oh, and I cannot wait to see what CR says about his son!

Which game did you see in August? :) oh I wanted sooo much to see the CL game with Lyon but I’ll be there just a week earlier aghhhh I have such a bad luck when it comes to games, I never get to see them….
I agree with the maturing argument from “a bit” older woman perspective ;)

I didn’t see any of Cris’ games when he was at Manchester but I’ve seen some of the highlight videos and I can see how he’d irritate people.

Today I see a team player who doesn’t like not getting the calls but still gets back up and helps on defense or whatever. I wonder if Mou has something to do with that?

Anyway, as Sami mentioned in his interview, “We earn a lot of money, but you shouldn’t forget that we are human beings, not machines.” Cris is human just like the rest of us, regardless of how much money he makes. I’m glad the media is trying to show us that side of him.

I feel bad for him. He really seems to be a great man and he has changed a lot in years. But right now, the media and most of the fans consider him as this “bad guy that will forever be Messi’s shadow”. Love him, hate him he’s undeniably amazing.

Thank you so much for the translation, you are magnificent!! :D
I love the interview so far, and the thing about the number of tackles he receives rings true to me, and how he is treated differently. Goal.com (yeah, I know I know) pulled together some statistics on Messi and Ronaldo last week, and one of the things compared was number of fouls received. Messi was the recepient of 26 fouls against him, Ronaldo 46 – and those were just the ones that got called, and only in La Liga, I believe. I’ve noticed that in the CL the refs are even more reluctant to call fouls against him. In short: he gets fouled a LOT, just as always, but he has started acting in a more mature way about it when it happens. I like that, because fouls are something you’ll just have to deal with.

Thank you so much for the translation~~
I’m just wondering that is this the full translation of the part 1 interview? because when I looked the Marca Magazine, it seems that the interview is very long.